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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Connie Rusk

How Lindsay Lohan turned her life around after drink-drive arrests and rehab stints

Lindsay Lohan marks a career comeback in Netflix's festive film Falling For Christmas.

Having risen to fame at 12-years-old in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, Lindsay found herself a firm favourite on the Hollywood scene in the noughties.

Lindsay followed The Parent Trap with blockbusters Freaky Friday and then Mean Girls, cementing her status as one of the most-sought after actresses.

But her career suffered due to her turbulent personal life, with drink-drive arrests and substance abuse leading the star into a downward spiral.

Here we take a look at Lindsay's troublesome years and how she turned her life around to make the ultimate return...

Reckless with cash

Lindsay in her breakout role in 1998 film The Parent Trap (Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

After The Parent Trap, Herbie: Fully Loaded and Mean Girls, Lindsay was making $7 million a movie.

The success of Mean Girls catapulted Lindsay to the height of her fame, but the star charts its release with her downfall.

She explained she moved to LA at the age of 18 and had no support - only hangers on.

After renting an apartment and staying in a hotel she blew millions on partying and flying friends over to see her.

In an interview with Oprah in 2013, the actress said her reputation for being late on set came from her being "so distracted in the past that I wasn't on point with that.

"But as long as I stay honest with myself and just do the work that I am willing to do, and have been willing to do and am doing, there's nothing that can stand in the way of that."

Addiction and court

“I got arrested for my first DUI when I was 20 and they found me with drugs," Lindsay said previously (Splash)
Lindsay appeared in court more than 20 times over substance abuse struggles (SPLASH)

Tragically for Lindsay she was plagued with addiction and appeared in court more than 20 times over substance abuse struggles from 2007 to 2012.

“I got arrested for my first DUI when I was 20 and they found me with drugs,” Lohan told Piers Morgan in 2013.

“And from then on the press were on me all the time. It was the first time I’d taken drugs; I was out in a club with people I shouldn’t have been with, and took cocaine, and got in the car. It was so stupid.”

Meanwhile, in her interview with Oprah, Lindsay admitted she was an "addict", but despite lying about her cocaine use she said it was alcohol which led to her downfall.

She said: "Alcohol. That in the past was a gateway to other things for me. I really haven't done it [cocaine] more than 10-15 times, of course I said 3-4 because I was terrified of being judged," she says.

"I never felt good the next day. It's a party thing, people would have it and I'd do it. It went hand in hand with drinking."

Prison time

Lindsay in her prison mugshot after violating probation by failing two drug tests in 2010 (Splash)
Lindsay is shown in this booking photo in 2011 (PA)

In 2007, a California judge sent troubled actress Lindsay Lohan to jail for 90 days tonight for violating probation in a 2007 drug case by failing to attend alcohol education classes.

Lohan, then 24, immediately burst into tears after the sentencing.

The actress had previously spent 84 minutes in jail that year after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08% and one count of reckless driving.

In total, Lindsay was sentenced to spend time in jail on five different occasions due to her various misdemeanours.

A milestone for the actress came in 2015, when her probation was ended by a judge.

Turning life around

The success of Mean Girls catapulted Lindsay to the height of her fame (Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

It was her three month court ordered rehab stint to avoid jail after a June 2012 traffic case which she credits to turning her life around.

"It's a process of growing up and recognizing and being just so tired and exhausted by the chaos, which is what it really is," Lindsay previously said.

"I have had no right in my past to complain about being followed by cameras and people making up stories, but there's something to be said about me moving forward."

"As long as I stay honest with myself and just do the work that I am willing to do, and have been willing to do and am doing, there's nothing that can stand in the way of that.

"I'm my own worst enemy and I know that."

Move to Dubai

Lindsay married her Dubai-based love Bader Shammas earlier this year (Instagram)

In her twenties, Lindsay was often photographed partying in Los Angeles, but in her thirties, the star has managed to avoid much of the limelight by moving to the United Arab Emirates.

She committed to a move to the desert in 2014 and has been based in Dubai mostly in the years since.

"Moving here was a fresh start," she told Emirates Woman in 2018. "I don't have to be publicly seen all the time, or discuss what I'm doing," she added.

In another interview with W Magazine, Lindsay explained that there's no paparazzi in Dubai, which is a "big deal" for her as it affords her a more private lifestyle.

She'd previously spoken often about how her mental health had suffered in Los Angeles with the lack of privacy the city affords its stars.

Career comeback

Lindsay makes her acting return in the Netflix Christmas romantic comedy, Falling For Christmas (Scott Everett White/Netflix)

Lindsay makes her acting return in the Netflix Christmas romantic comedy, Falling For Christmas.

The former child star, 34, will play a newly engaged and spoiled hotel heiress who suffers total amnesia following a skiing accident.

She finds herself being looked after by a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter, Netflix said.

It's one of Lindsay's first acting roles since she played Katerina West in Sick Note in 2018 and in horror Among the Shadows in 2019, and it's been 17 years since Mean Girls hit our screens.

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